Animation 1 - Wk 11 - Group Project Production

For the group project, we original had 3 members, me, Jiun and Yoori. When coming up with the animation for the theme cooperation, our main concern was come up with a concept that was simple and was 30 seconds long. So, we all just said some random idea until we came up with a bunch of letters spelling the word ‘cooperation’ as they are cooperating to save the letter y and Jiun ordered some fridge magnets.

While coming up with the storyboard, Spencer came into our group and we end up creating our own version of how the story world process and choosing the shots that looked the best for that scene. In addition, we all contributed on creating the design of each character. I designed C, P and E, Jiun designed R, A and Y, Yoori designed OO and I and Spencer designed T, O and N. Once we had our storyboard, me and Jiun started cleaning up the storyboard using photoshop, Yoori used premiere pro to edit the storyboard to be 30 seconds and Spencer was supposed to make the character sheet on photoshop, but he ended up not doing anything since he didn’t have access on the computer, so Yoori ended up creating the character sheet.

During this week’s lesson, Spencer was not here and was not replying to any technological form of communication, so we had Guy as a replacement. Jiun was the one who designed the production plan and told us that she will transfer the plan onto a website called ‘Trello’. Also, since the magnets did not arrive this week, we decided to start animating the character’s eyes. Me, Jiun and Yoori started animating the character’s eye to make them blink while Guy, since he has no knowledge of the program photoshop, ended up making the ‘Let’s Rescue’ sign for the film. I animated C, P, E, O, X and T eye’s blinking animation, Yoori animated OO, I, N, Z and A, and finally Jiun animated Y and R. 

For next week, we plan to start shooting the stop-motion and then edit the images so the letter have eyes and finally, if we have time, add voice recording and music.  

Animation 1 - Wk 9 - My Experience with Hand-Drawn and Stop-Motion Animation

 In my experience of both hand drawing and stop-motion animation, I found that both are used differently to achieve the same result. Some of these differences have their benefits and drawbacks. I will be using my hand drawing flip-book and my stop-motion video as my two examples.

While animating this, I started with a circle and then slowly added more features and detail so it looks like a girl transforming. I was able to blur out the character and make the character do a flip with little effort. If I were to animate this as a stop-motion video, I would either have to switch the model into a blur or frame by frame make the character do a flip. Also, I am able to squash and stretch my character to make the motion look realistic but if I were to do a stop-motion, I cannot squash nor stretch the character, and even if I did, the model would deform and will take time to re-position and model the character again. Furthermore, if you were to make a mistake such as the character moves too fast or too slow, you can remove frames or draw more frames, however, for stop-motion, you need to start all over again. Finally, the character is in the air so if I were to use a model, then I would also need a support stand to make the character stay in the air then, later edit each frame using an editing software such as ‘Photoshop’.

What’s good about doing stop-motion animation is that I position the object then once I’ve taken the photo, I sightly move the object depending if the action is fast or slow. In other words, I don’t have to redraw the same object/model. Same applies to moving arms or legs, I only need to make the arms or limbs slightly instead of redrawing the whole model again on a different page. Another thing is that the model already have shadows due to the light in the room or the sunlight, but for drawing, I need to shade each frame from the direction I want to put the light in. Finally, for drawing I can only flip through three pages to make sure the character action goes smoothly, for stop-motion animation however, I just need to look through my camera or phone and I can see all the frames I’ve taken.

All in all, both hand drawing and stop-motion animation have their benefits and drawbacks but are used differently to achieve the same result. 

3D Artistry 2 - Wk 9 - Journal

2D Animatic

This was actually my second attempt of making the animatic. My first attempt didn’t follow the brief since it took place outside then a room. Also, the shots looked off and felt uncomfortable especially the close ups so I had to start all over again. It was an improvement but I needed to do a slight change in the shot where the character opens the door, which is just making the character look to their left. Later on, I will add shading and colour so I know both the colour scheme and the position of the lights.

Mud-map, Grey Boxing and Layout of the Environment

I have a good idea of the environment and decided for the environment to be a haunted house to fit part of my character’s story. I wanted to do a simple room and add not too much furniture. I have finished grey boxing the environment and decided to add some books on the shelf so it doesn’t look too empty.

Colour scheme and Texturing for Animatic

I do have the colour scheme for my character but not the layout. My plan is to make the environment purple to complement the orange glow my character has. I will also be using some textures to make the wood floor and the material of the chair.

Cameras and lighting

I do have a couple of cameras position to look like the 2D animatic but I do not have lighting. I’ve been having trouble with lighting the scene such as the ceiling lights does not have good lighting so I will need to work on that.

Modelling and Rigging Character

I apparently put too much detail to my character and had to simplify my character such as removing the pads and gadgets. I also had to separate the fur on the coat so it does not deform my character model. I am having trouble rigging my character. I did look at the video Michael linked to but the controls always rotate wrong. For example, Y rotate is the X rotate, X rotate is the Z rotate and if I try to change the rotations, the controls are backwards. All in all, my greatest challenge for my animatic is Rigging my character, as I am having trouble with the spine and hip controls.